Elizabeth Becker is an award-winning journalist and author who began her career as a war correspondent for the Washington Post in Cambodia. She later became the Senior Foreign Editor of the National Public Radio and a New York Times correspondent covering national security and foreign policy. She has been the recipient of numerous awards including accolades from the Overseas Press Club, DuPont Columbia's Awards and was a member of the Times team that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in covering 9/11. She is the author of two previous books, When the War was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution, the definitive book on the event that has been in print for twenty years and Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism, an expose of the travel industry.Elizabeth Becker lives in Washington D.C.
"This account of three trailblazing women war reporters not only
illuminates the transformative role women played in shaping the
nature of war reporting but reminds us of the importance of female
representation in journalism, especially today in Ukraine."--Daisy
Veerasingham, McKinsey Summer Reading list
"This group biography is told with the clear poignancy that
characterizes Becker's reporting. And it brings to the fore the
compassionate witness that Becker, and the three women who 'rewrote
the story of war, ' brought to the conflict."--Public Books
"[T]he vivid, humane and engaging portraits in You Don't Belong
Here...bring three female trailblazers to life. Becker recounts
both personal and professional accomplishments and setbacks alike,
and that is a real success of Becker's valuable
narrative."--National Catholic Reporter
"Becker deftly weaves her own story into the tapestry."--The Times
Literary Supplement
"Becker not only shines a light on the contributions of those
correspondents -- along with the risks they took to show and tell
the raw truths of the war as they saw it -- but provides a valuable
depth of cultural and historical insight into the conflict...There
is a fourth woman who rewrote the story of war, and that is of
course Elizabeth Becker, who with a depth of research and an
abundance of grace gives fresh insight into the background and
achievements of three extraordinary war correspondents -- and the
price they paid for the intensity of their work..."You Don't Belong
Here" is deserving of a wide readership. My guess is that every
young woman filled with journalistic ambition will have a copy in
her backpack, perhaps as she ventures into a war zone with her
laptop, her satellite phone and a sustaining dose of
idealism."--Washington Post
"Sensitively written and utterly absorbing."--The Canberra
Times
"With controlled anger, in a riveting narrative... Becker conveys
the particular sacrifices that these three women had to make: the
indignities, the psychological cost, the elusiveness of stable
relationships and children. Still, it's exhilarating to read
Becker's account of how these women overcame the narrow definitions
of their early lives and found themselves by surrendering to the
extreme demands of reporting a war."--The Atlantic
"An incisive history of the Vietnam War via the groundbreaking
accomplishments of three remarkable women journalists.... A deft,
richly illuminating perspective on the Vietnam War."--Kirkus
Reviews
"You Don't Belong Here provides a fresh perspective not just on how
the Second Indochina War was reported, but also on how it can be
narrated through the lives of those who witnessed it. In writing
it, Becker has made a significant contribution to the history of
women in journalism and women in war."--Mekong Review
"A prize-worthy page-turner of tension, suspense and drama. The
tone of the book intensifies with each chapter...Becker never loses
sight of her goal to illuminate these women in the larger context
of America's biggest foreign policy disaster of the 20th
century."--Mike Tharp, Asia Times
"An absorbing narrative... Included are gripping stories of Webb's
and Becker's coverage of Cambodia's bloody killing fields, and
Webb's three-week imprisonment by the North Vietnamese... Readers
interested in the Vietnam War and in women's history will be
engaged."--Library Journal
"Compelling... Becker's book does an excellent job of bringing back
what my colleague in Bosnia, the New York Times reporter John F.
Burns, once nostalgically called 'that time, that place, of war.'
She writes beautifully of the heartache the women suffer, their
struggles to be taken seriously, the guffaws, the catcalls, the
daily small humiliations that amounted to the French photographer's
fierce indictment: You don't belong here."--Janine di Giovanni,
Foreign Policy
"You Don't Belong Here is a significant contribution to the history
of both the Vietnam War and women in journalism." --Bookpage
"Insightful portraits of courageous women war correspondents who
helped break down stereotypes."--The Washington Times
" A riveting read with much to say about the nature of war and the
different ways men and women correspondents cover it. Frank,
fast-paced, often enraging, "You Don't Belong Here" speaks to the
distance traveled and the journey still ahead." --Geraldine Brooks,
Pulitzer Prize winning author of MARCH, former Wall Street Journal
foreign correspondent
"Every journalist should read this stunning book. Actually everyone
should. Elizabeth Becker has that rare ability to weave the
fascinating stories of three ground-breaking, very different women
journalists with a riveting history of the Vietnam War. She
challenges you to see who these women were in a place they
allegedly didn't belong, while describing what and how they
witnessed it."
--Anne Garrels, former NPR foreign correspondent and author of
Naked in Baghdad
"In this meticulously researched and drama-filled book, we can feel
the sweat and heat of the jungle, hear the explosion of bombs, and
witness the lies and political machinations justifying the doomed
"Vietnam War." Most importantly, Ms. Becker, a master international
journalist herself, profiles the extraordinary courage, talent, and
raw determination of three wartime female journalists, who
succeeded in a man's world and helped pave the way for women
everywhere to receive the recognition and respect they
deserve."
--Alan Lightman, author of Einstein's Dreams and The Diagnosis
"Becker blends [the journalists'] individual stories with wider
history, setting the unfolding tragedy in Vietnam in the background
as her protagonists develop doubts about the logic and legitimacy
of the war. She provides vivid accounts of their journalistic
exploits and tales of how they suffered in their work--their
injuries, traumas, excessive drinking, and complicated
affairs."--Foreign Affairs
"Becker has done us a great service by shining a light on three
hidden women stars of the wars in IndoChina: Francis FitzGerald,
Kate Webb and Catherine Leroy. They fought their way through
opposition from the "men's club" of war corresponding to focus on
reporting the truth, proving that they actually DID belong there.
Put YOU DON'T BELONG HERE on your reading list!"--Joseph L.
Galloway, co-author of We Were Soldiers Once
"Crisp and incisive... Becker, who also reported from Cambodia in
the 1970s, fluidly sketches the history and politics of the Vietnam
War and captures her subjects in all their complexity. Readers
interested in women's history and foreign affairs won't be able to
put this fascinating chronicle down."--Publishers Weekly
"Elizabeth Becker has gracefully weaved admiring but clear-eyed
portraits of three remarkable women who reported from its front
lines. At a time when most female journalists were relegated to
covering food, family, and fashion, these fought for a chance to
take on the biggest story of their day -- recording both the
courage and the human toll of war, earning the amazed respect of
soldiers, and making an indelible contribution to our understanding
of the war, then and now."--Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down
and Hue 1968
"Elizabeth Becker resurrects the long-forgotten stories and
enormous sacrifices made by a generation of women who paved the way
for the rest of us. Elegant, angry and utterly engaging, it is a
long overdue story about a small band of courageous and visionary
women.You Don't Belong Here is a masterpiece of a book."--Rachel
Louise Snyder, author of No Visible Bruises
"Elizabeth Becker's luminous book not only belongs, it demands at
last that these daring, resourceful, and pathbreaking women take
their rightful place in the history of the Indochina wars and
journalists who covered them."--David Maraniss, author of They
Marched into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October
1967
"Riveting, powerful and transformative, Elizabeth Becker's You
Don't Belong Here tells the stories of three astonishing women.
This is a timely and brilliant work from one of our most
extraordinary war correspondents."--Madeleine Thien, author of Do
Not Say We Have Nothing
"When these three women were born, 'lady journalists' wore flowery
dresses and white gloves, and wrote about fashion and housekeeping.
Today, because of the tenacity and bravery of women like Leroy,
Fitzgerald and Webb, women report from the frontlines of the
bloodiest conflicts ... and they aren't wearing white
gloves."--Tony Clifton, veteran Australian journalist
"Whether as a woman's story or a war story, this should find a wide
audience."--Booklist
Ask a Question About this Product More... |